...that those who sought health information on the Internet were more likely to have positive beliefs about cancer prevention.

Moreover, the effect was strongest for those with low levels of formal education, suggesting that the Internet has potential to be a powerful tool to reduce inequalities in cancer knowledge and prevention behaviors.

This is important because those with positive outlooks are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors that could help prevent cancer, such as eating fruits and vegetables and getting screened for cancer, [Cornell researcher and co-author Jeff Niederdeppe, PhD,] says.

...

But there is much left to learn, Niederdeppe says.

“There are still large gaps in cancer-related knowledge between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged populations. Access and use of the Internet aren’t magic bullets that are going solve these issues, but there is considerable potential to use the web to reduce harmful beliefs about cancer’s causes and prevention.”

The scenario many of us learned in school is that two X chromosomes make someone female, and an X and a Y chromosome make someone male. These are simplistic ways of thinking about what is scientifically very complex.